Home pages on the Internet are a primary means to locate information. Currently there are over 70,000, and the number is increasing rapidly. These pages are like electronic catalogues - for example, the home page of the British Medical Journal (http://www.bmj.com/bmj/) houses the electronic version of the journal.
With help from people from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Pan-American Health Organisation, the World Bank, and AT&T, we have created a Global Health Network home page which identifies the epidemiological and public health information and data that are on the Internet. A multilingual version will soon be available with translations in Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese. Included in the home page are specialty pages for laboratories, minority health, molecular epidemiology, reproduction and contraception, etc. Subpages continue to be added as there is considerable interest to have one's home page where people see it, and the Global Health Network's home page is being visited regularly by people around the world. It is becoming a leader in health on the Internet: almost 800 people a day come to visit.We invite people to come, visit, and potentially contribute to the development and expansion of Global Health Network home page. Global health can be improved if health workers have access to the Internet and can go to a place such as the Global Health Network home page (http://www.pitt.edu/HOME/GHNet/GHNet.html) to find information readily.
RONALD LAPORTE
Professor of epidemiology